Waiver Process & Criteria

On March 15, 2011, the FCC issued a public notice regarding a licensing waiver process applicable to receivers of foreign RNSS signals. The notice includes a letter from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on behalf of the Executive Branch.

The letter states that upon receipt of a request from a foreign government implementing a RNSS system, NTIA will consider recommending that the FCC grant a waiver of its licensing requirement if the NTIA determines, in consultation with other relevant Executive Branch agencies, that:

granting the waiver is in the public interest;

the system complies with United Nations Space Debris Mitigation guidelines;

the grant of a waiver is consistent with U.S. international trade and other treaty obligations;

the waiver request is limited to receive-only RNSS (which includes positioning) and standard time and frequency satellite services; and

operation of the RNSS signals offered by the foreign RNSS system has been found compatible with U.S. government systems operating in the specified RNSS frequency bands.

The letter contemplates that NTIA will submit any recommendation for waiver to the FCC, and that the FCC would then review the request for compatibility with non-federal U.S.-licensed systems.

The FCC will assign a file number to any such recommendation and issue a public notice providing an opportunity for comment prior to FCC action on the request.

Galileo Waiver Request

In 2013, the European Commission requested a waiver of the FCC's licensing requirements under the process described above.
NTIA submitted the EC's request to the FCC, requested that the FCC issue a public notice seeking comment on the EC's waiver request, and recommended granting the request.

On January 6, 2017, the FCC issued a public notice inviting interested parties to comment on the waiver request.

The initial comment period closed on February 21. Reply comments were due March 23, 2017. All comments are to reference IB Docket No. 17-16.

E911

On January 29, 2015, the FCC adopted a report and order strengthening existing Enhanced 911 location accuracy rules to improve location determination for outdoor as well as indoor calls.

The order sets timelines for carriers to provide vertical location information (e.g., building floor) for emergency calls in addition to horizontal coordinates or a dispatchable location and does not mandate use of any particular technology. GPS cannot do this alone, so carriers are preparing to test technologies that could augment it, including the combination of foreign satellite navigation signals with GPS in handsets.

Noting that the use of foreign satellite signals requires FCC authorization, the order states, "We do not decide the issue of operating with non-U.S. satellite signals in this proceeding."

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